Europe

ROME, April 26. /TASS/: The European Union intends to reduce its dependence on Russian oil and gas by two-thirds by the end of 2022 and bring it to zero by the end of 2027, European Commissioner for Economy Paolo Gentiloni said in an interview with the Messaggero newspaper published on Tuesday when commenting on the RePower EU program announced in March.

MOSCOW, April 26. /TASS/: Most companies with foreign capital are ready to continue working in Russia, but want to reduce the risks of doing business, Sergey Katyrin, President of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (RCCI), told TASS on Tuesday following a meeting with representatives of foreign business associations.

LONDON, April 26 (Reuters) - One of President Vladimir Putin's closest allies said on Tuesday that Ukraine was spiralling towards a collapse into several states because of what he cast as a U.S. attempt to use Kyiv to undermine Russia.

The comments from Nikolai Patrushev, the powerful secretary of Russia's Security Council, appeared to be an attempt to blame the United States for any division of Ukraine that emerges from the conflict.

GENEVA, April 26 (Reuters) - U.N. aid chief Martin Griffiths said on Tuesday that close to 2 million children risk starving to death as the Horn of Africa faces one of its worst droughts in decades.

Parts of Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia are facing the driest conditions in more than 40 years and aid agencies are seeking to avoid the repeat of a famine a decade ago that killed hundreds of thousands of people. 

Addressing a closed-door donor conference held in Geneva, Griffiths said the organisation had only a fraction of the $1.4 billion it needs to respond to the drought.

LONDON, April 26 (Reuters) - Global food and fuel price shocks linked to the Russia-Ukraine war are set to last until at least the end of 2024 and raise the risk of of stagflation, the World Bank said in its latest Commodities Market Outlook report.

In its first comprehensive analysis of the war's impact on commodity markets, the bank, which provides loans and grants to low- and middle-income countries, said the world faces the biggest commodity price shock since the 1970s.

LONDON, April 26 (Reuters) - Prince Charles and his wife Camilla will visit Canada next month as part of celebrations to mark his mother Queen Elizabeth's 70th year on the British throne, his office said on Tuesday.

The trip, the 19th the heir-to-the-throne has undertaken to Canada, will see the royal couple travel more than 2000 miles from Newfoundland and Labrador to the Northwest Territories over three days from May 17-19.

KYIV, April 26 (Reuters) - As Russian forces tightened their siege of Mariupol and missiles rained down, Mykhailo Puryshev drove into the city six times last month to evacuate its citizens, somehow surviving despite his red van being all but destroyed.

The 36-year-old Ukrainian, who once ran a nightclub in the city, said he evacuated more than 200 people on his six perilous trips and others began to join him in convoy into his hometown.

RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany/KYIV, April 26 (Reuters) - The United States and its allies pledged new packages of ever heavier weapons for Ukraine during a meeting on Tuesday at a German air base, brushing off a threat from Moscow that their support for Kyiv could lead to nuclear war.

U.S. officials have switched emphasis this week from speaking mainly about helping Ukraine defend itself to bolder talk of a Ukrainian victory that would weaken Russia's ability to threaten its neighbours.

PARIS (AP) — When Vladimir Putin congratulated Emmanuel Macron on his re-election as France’s president and wished him “success in your activities,” the Russian leader probably was being more polite than sincere.

As he embarks on a second term, with the intention of keeping France at the forefront of international efforts to force Putin to change course in Ukraine, Macron has given a green light for the delivery of modern artillery pieces to Kyiv that could help stem Russia’s new offensive in the east of the country.

TORETSK, Ukraine (AP) — War has again drawn near to Toretsk in eastern Ukraine. Even the sudden crackling of a plastic water bottle puts residents on edge.

“Anything that is happening, any noise, if our neighbors bang the door, a metal door, you are shocked,” said resident Andriy Cheromushkin. “You feel so helpless.”

Half of the more than 32,000 residents have fled. Many who remain lack money and basic resources. Depression is growing, along with anger.